Indonesian officials arrested for taking money from anti-poverty fund

Officials in Indonesia has been arrested after being accused of taking money from an anti-poverty fund.

From the Jakarta Post, writers Indra Harsaputra and Achmad Faisal tell us about the latest arrest in the corruption investigation.

Prosecutors in East Java arrested Tuesday former provincial legislative council speaker Fathorrasjid for allegedly embezzling a Rp 13 billion from a poverty eradication fund.

Fathorrasjid is believed to have misused the fund allotted by the East Java administration for the People's Socio-Economic Empowerment Program (P2SEM), said provincial chief prosecutor Zul-karnaen.

He added Fathorrasjid was now being held at Medaeng Penitentiary.

"We questioned him for about two hours to seek information about the case," Zulkarnaen said in a press conference at his office in Surabaya.

"Based on Article 31 of the corruption law, and evidence we found during the investigation, we decided to arrest Fathorrasjid as a suspect."

He said investigators were now focussing on digging up more information in the case, to see how many more people are involved.

"We've also received information from 10 other local prosecutor's offices in East Java that say they have also found other cases where P2SEM funds have been embezzled," Zulkarnaen said.